Hey You, Sparrow!
by Damaia
Summary: See my author's notes at the beginning of chapter 1 for full details, but basically this is my attempt at writing a "sucked into the movie" fic- as well as a pretty good story! Please R and R!
1. Legally Doomed

So I was sitting at my computer the other day, working on lord-only- knows-what, and I thought, you know, there are so many weird, usually stupid fics out there about people getting sucked into movies, books, etc. Like that weird one with King Arthur and Whoopie Goldberg. That was on cable the other night.... anyway. Yeah, so I was like, someone should write a really good one, with a plot, that makes some kind of sense, for POTC. *Enter my muse, Elly* Elly: "What an excellent thought, yes, I agree, someone should. GET WRITING!!!! NOW!!!" Damnation. So here I am, and here's what I wrote. (with Paul McCartney wailing in the background) Please R and R!  
  
************************************************************************  
  
Alyssia was not a happy girl. Her aunt- short, plump, and platinum blond -was going to take her to a movie. Ordinarily, this would not have bothered Alyssia, as she loved movies, but, well... last time was still fresh in her mind. She and her eccentric, lime-green wearing aunt had gone to see "How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days", quite possibly the most mind-numbing film on the planet. Her aunt, naturally, had loved it, and was quite content to discuss and quote it for hours on end. Alyssia mentally bet herself a new CD that today's outing would be to "Legally Blond Two". Alyssia bet herself a second CD that she would, if she was right, barf into the popcorn container before the first half hour was up.  
  
With the air of one walking up the steps to the gallows, she checked her dark brown hair a final time in the hallway mirror before marching downstairs, her flare jeans dragging on the carpet at every step. She crossed her arms over the front of her T-shirt, which was navy blue and utterly plain, and tapped a be-tennis-shoed foot on the wooden floor, waiting at the door.  
  
Her aunt, resplendent today in shocking violet with orange trim, waltzed over and (horror of horrors) patted her cheek affectionately. Through sheer force of will Alyssia kept a reasonably pleasant expression on her face, though she had to savagely bite her tongue to do it. "Ready to go, my dear?" her aunt giggled, and trotted gleefully out the door, beckoning Alyssia to follow. Tasting blood and muttering, she did so, enduring the ride in her aunt's yellow VW bug in silence.  
  
The movie theater was jammed with people, and Alyssia and her aunt stood in line for almost twenty minutes before they were able to buy tickets. Alyssia didn't hear any of the conversation her aunt had with the ticket person, as her attention was caught and held by a large banner off to her left that read, "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl." Below the words were pictures of four people. Alyssia's eyes drifted from the face of a young woman (is that Natalie Portman? she wondered) to a very handsome Orlando Bloom (looking odd as a brunette without the pointy ears) to the man in the foreground. Johnny Depp, she realised. He held a pistol and a sword crossed in front of him.  
  
Alyssia couldn't help but smile slightly. She thought, 'Maybe we're going to see that.... Hah! Don't I wish!'  
  
Her aunt chose that moment, when she was gazing thoughtfully into Johnny Depp's kohl-lined (and very nice!) eyes to seize her hand in a vice- like grip and haul her off to buy popcorn. 'Halfway to a new CD' Alyssia thought cynically as they marched down the hallway with lighted signs overhead, proclaiming what each screen was showing. Ahead, she could see "Legally Blond II", glowing evilly in the semi-darkness. To her everlasting shock, her aunt marched right past the entrance to the theater, and into the darkened entrance marked "Pirates of the Caribbean".  
  
Alyssia stopped dead, and her aunt ground to a halt. "Yes, what is it, dearest?" she asked in a sickly sweet voice.  
  
Alyssia stuttered, "W-we're going to see this?"  
  
Her aunt beamed, showing yellow artificial teeth that clashed rather horribly with her purple ensemble. "Oh, yes, dear. I thought it might be a nice... change. I saw Mr. Depp in that charming picture a couple of years ago, Chocolat. I thought it might be nice to see another of his performances."  
  
Alyssia was so startled that she used one of her aunt's favorite words purely out of reflex. She said, "Indeed." Her aunt turned away and continued inside. Alyssia stood for a moment, still struggling to grasp this sudden improvement in her fortunes, then followed her in.  
  
They nearly had to sit down on the ground level because of a dispute over moving down a seat. 'But that worked out nicely' Alyssia reflected. 'I'm what, six rows behind my aunt?'  
  
The theater darkened around her, and the opening chords of "Fog Bound" rang out in the otherwise silent theater...  
  
The first few minutes were all right. Alyssia watched, but found her mind wandering as first the ship scene with young Elizabeth Swann, and then the corset scene, and finally the first scene with Will Turner, passed before her eyes. Then her attention was caught and held by Captain Jack Sparrow's magnificent entrance. She giggled as he stood tall and proud on the mast of his sinking boat, then stepped briskly onto the docks of Port Royal.  
  
'Don't I wish' she thought fervently 'That I was on that dock, stepping off that sinking boat, with a swagger in my step and a sword at my side!'  
  
And, quite suddenly and without any warning at all, she was. 


	2. Questionable Mental Stability

Well, mostly.  
  
Actually, she fell forward off the sinking boat with a loud crash. Traveling with no warning whatsoever through time, space, and probability can be a bit disorienting, and Alyssia was, without a doubt, a bit disoriented. She lay stunned for a moment, then rolled into a sitting position, noticing a number of things as she did so, chief of these being that her hair was, inexplicably, free of its tie and hanging in her face. She brushed it back purely out of reflex, and stopped short as her sleeve hit her in the face. She blinked, and glanced down at herself. Her jeans, T-shirt, and tennis shoes were gone. In their place were what her history teacher would probably call 'period clothing'. Breeches, boots, and a light, loose, long-sleeved shirt, all black. She also, interestingly enough, now had a sword  
  
The sound of voices arguing made her leap to her feet. Johnny Depp was some ten feet away, having some kind of discussion about shillings with the harbormaster. Only... Alyssia thought back, and determined that, judging by the angle of the shot she had last seen on the movie screen, the camera operator ought to be exactly where she was standing- except he wasn't. In fact, there were no camera operators, directors, body guards, lighting people, or nervous financial backers anywhere in sight. Odd, very odd.  
  
Alyssia stood for a moment in a state of complete mental overload, but then a thought occurred to her. It was random, but at least somewhat encouraging. It even made her smile faintly. She thought, 'People who have been reading "The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide" by Douglas Adams ought to be able to cope with this sort of thing.' Luckily, Alyssia was one of those people.  
  
Having finished his conversation with the Harbormaster (and having stolen the man's coin-purse in the process), Johnny Depp wandered slowly away. Alyssia watched him for a moment, then took a few cautious steps forward until she was standing directly in front of the harbormaster. "Um, hello?" she said, crossing her fingers (and noticing something else very odd, which we shall come to in a moment).  
  
The man gave no indication that he had heard her, or indeed noticed her at all. Alyssia shifted nervously from one leg to the other, but found that both were equally sore from her fall. At last, somewhat hesitantly, she waved her hand in the man's face. He jumped, and demanded harshly, "Here, now, what do you want, sneaking up on a fellow like that? Be off with you!"  
  
"All right, all right, I'm going!" Alyssia said hastily, and suited actions to words by beating a hasty retreat.  
  
The next hundred feet were the oddest she had ever walked in her life. It was as though no one could see her unless she worked really, really hard at being noticed. Several people actually walked smack into her before they became aware of her presence. After a few such incidents, she came to the conclusion that she wasn't invisible as such, just...  
  
It was then that her mind flashed to the odd thing she had noticed when she crossed her fingers. She seemed, in the course of losing all her twenty-first century possessions and getting seventeenth-or-so century replacements, to have acquired a ring. It was a heavy, ornate silver affair, set with a lusterless black stone of some kind. Curious, she tried to take it off, but it seemed to have a death grip on her finger at the moment. She shook her head, wondering what on earth she was going to do next.  
  
She spotted Johnny Depp, ambling along at an easy pace, some distance ahead of her. Still tugging at the ring, she broke into a jog, and called out, "Um, Mr. Depp?" He didn't turn around or give any indication that he had heard her, though she was now only about fifteen feet behind him.  
  
'Okay' she thought to herself 'That proves it. The articles I've read said he was just a bit odd, not deaf, so... Oh!' Two and two had quite unexpectedly come together as four in her still-spinning mind. 'Right. Of course. I'm not on a movie set. There aren't any movie people around here. Which means this is actually happening, so to speak, so... That's... not Johnny Depp. That's, um... damnation, I knew this morning, I just read the summary of the movie... Sparrow. Jack Sparrow.'  
  
She took a deep breath, and called out, "Hey you, Sparrow!"  
  
Ahead of her, he swung around in a kind of off-balance pirouette, and said, "Who calls?"  
  
Nervously, Alyssia closed the gap between them to about five feet, stopping a safe distance away. "I do."  
  
His dark eyes narrowed as he surveyed her. "You look a bit familiar. Have we met?"  
  
"N-no," she stammered, realizing with a nasty jolt that she had no idea what she was about to say, but kept talking anyway. "I, um, hoped you could help me, I... think." She paused to consider exactly what she needed help with, and finished rather lamely, "I'm a bit confused."  
  
He gave her a slow, insolent, up-and-down look, and the smile he gave her was, if not quite predatory, at least slightly carnivorous as he replied, "About what, love? New in town?"  
  
"More than that," she replied, and, deciding to just give him the story, make of it what he would, she continued, "I'm actually new to the century. I'm... well, I was born in the year 1988, and I'm not sure how I got here or what I'm supposed to be doing, or how to get back (not that I really want to), and I thought maybe you could sort of help me?"  
  
He stared for a moment, apparently too surprised to speak, then his expression became one of mingled awe and pity as he asked, "What have you been drinking, love?" Then he gave her a lopsided smile and added, "And where can I get some, hey?"  
  
Alyssia stuttered for a moment, then mumbled, too quiet for him to hear, "It's called Mountain Dew. You should try it sometime." Then she squared her shoulders, and said, as calmly as she could, "I'm not drunk. Honestly, I'm not," she added, seeing his expression. "Look." She demonstrated by walking a very straight line.  
  
He still looked somewhat skeptical, but said, "Aha. Well, all that's left for me to say is welcome to the Caribbean, then. As for helping you, though, I don't think I will. I'm here on business, you see. Ordinarily, I'd be delighted to help you learn your way around"- another grin -"But under the circumstances, you'll understand if I'm not interested in having a pretty young lady of questionable mental stability traipsing around after me."  
  
Alyssia glared, and said tartly, "Speaking of questionable mental stability, what IS your business in Port Royal, Mr.... Smith?"  
  
He shrugged, ignoring her sarcasm. "Oh, nothing too dreadfully interesting. Just thought I might commandeer a ship, maybe two, pick up a crew in Tortuga (lovely place, by the way), and go on my merry roguish way."  
  
"Oh, good," Alyssia said. "Because I'm coming with you."  
  
"Oh, no you're not," he said, holding his hands up, palms out. "You'd be nothing but a hindrance, probably get me killed."  
  
"Ah, but you can't do this, can you?" Alyssia inquired, stepping into the path of an old man strolling slowly along the road. For added effect, she began whistling loudly. He was ten feet from her... then five.... then two.... then he crashed slap-bang into her, having been looking directly at the place where she stood for a good fifteen seconds before doing so. He staggered back, surprise written across his wrinkled face, and growled, "Sorry, missy, I did nae see ye there, my apologies." And he continued on his way.  
  
Jack's eyes narrowed speculatively as she took a theatrical bow. "That's... interesting. How did you do that?"  
  
Alyssia shrugged. "I have absolutely no idea. It might be this," she held up the hand with the ring on it, "But I really don't know. Whatever it is, though, it seems to work on everyone except you, for some reason. So," she added, "You're sure I can't come with you?"  
  
Jack gave her a lopsided grin, and said, "You know, love, you might have just changed me mind?" 


	3. Telling the Truth

Alyssia followed Jack as he wandered over to where the Interceptor was docked. The two British marines guarding the ship immediately stopped Jack and informed him in officious tones of voice that the dock was off limits to civilians.  
  
Jack tried to step around them, saying, "I'm terribly sorry, I didn't know. If I see one, I shall inform you immediately."  
  
The marines were somewhat less than impressed with him, and barred his way once more. Jack continued, in tones of casual interest mixed with a bit of condescension, "Apparently there's some kind of high-toned and fancy to-do up at the fort, aye? How could it be that two upstanding gentlemen such as yourselves did not merit an invitation?"  
  
Clearly this thought had occurred to them, but, stubbornly loyal, the dimmer-looking of the two replied, "Someone has to make sure this dock stays off limits to civilians."  
  
Ever agreeable, Jack nodded, and said, "It's a fine goal, to be sure, but it seems to me that a"- he shifted to point across the water at a massive, heavily armed warship out in the harbor -"A ship like that makes this one here a bit superfluous, really."  
  
One of the marines replied, "Ah, the Dauntless is the power in these waters, true enough, but there's no ship that can match the Interceptor for speed."  
  
Jack set them to arguing about a ship called the Black Pearl, apparently, in their words, "Crewed by the damned and captained by a man so evil that Hell itself spat him back out." Alyssia smirked, and thought to herself, 'But that's ridiculous, my math teacher never brought his trig class here, I'm sure of it.'  
  
Jack slipped past them and boarded the Interceptor. Alyssia, curious, followed him. Unfortunately, so did the two marines. One of them yelled, "Hey! You! Get away from there!"  
  
The other added, "You don't have permission to be aboard there, mate!"  
  
Jack grinned apologetically at them. "I'm sorry, it's just it's such a pretty boat-" Alyssia stood on his foot "-ship."  
  
The two marines still had their rifles pointed more or less in Jack's direction, though Alyssia had serious doubts about their ability to actually hit what they shot at, should the need arise for them to do so. Fortunately, it didn't look as though Jack planned to do anything too stupid. He stepped around the ship's wheel, his hands up.  
  
"What's your name?" sneered the shorter of the two marines.  
  
"Smith," Jack replied, adding, "Or... Smithy, if you like."  
  
The other marine demanded, "What's your purpose in Port Royal, Mr. Smith?"  
  
The other chimed in, "Yeah, and no lies!"  
  
'That'll happen,' Alyssia thought cynically. 'Maybe when the Caribbean freezes over.'  
  
Jack sighed with an air of deepest defeat about him, and said wearily, "Well, then, I confess. It is my intention to commandeer one of these ships, pick up a crew in Tortuga, raid, pillage, plunder, and otherwise pilfer my weasely black guts out!"  
  
Looking distinctly shaken, the marine snapped, "I said no lies!"  
  
Alyssia and his companion said, "I think he's telling the truth," at exactly the same moment. Jack winked at her.  
  
The other marine said, with the impression of one pointing out the painfully obvious, "If he were telling the truth, 'e wouldn't a told us!"  
  
Jack held up a finger and argued, "Unless, of course, he knew you wouldn't believe the truth even if he told it to you."  
  
The dumbfounded looks on both the marines' faces were so identical it made Alyssia wonder if they were standard British military-issue. 


	4. Like That

'Story time', Alyssia thought sardonically, listening with half an ear as Jack enthralled the two marines with his tales of derring-do, which she had to admit were pretty impressive. She'd never met anyone who could lie so creatively with no prep time at all.  
  
She shaded her eyes with one hand as she peered up at the cliffs that overshadowed the harbor. She could see two figures up on the battlements, a man and a woman. The woman's fan was fluttering rapidly like a startled butterfly, and Alyssia found herself thinking, 'That's one helluva drop if she faints- but no, her gentleman friend no doubt has the wits to catch her if she does'. Then, a moment later, 'Woops, guess not.' The woman fell like a shot bird, hit the water with a loud splash and immediately sank out of sight. Alyssia stared, horrified, then yelled, "Sparrow!"  
  
She could hear men up on the cliff yelling something, but they didn't seem too eager to dive in after her, no doubt on account of the rocks. Jack looked past one of the marines at her and demanded, "Will you be saving her then?"  
  
"That seems to be more your forte than mine," she retorted. "Or aren't your stories true?"  
  
The marine answered at the same instant, giving his excuses.  
  
"Pride of the Royal Navy, you are!" Jack growled, shedding his coat, sword belt, and hat. "Do not lose these!" Then he dove into the water and vanished into the murky depths.  
  
Alyssia stood with the two marines, watching the water anxiously, but then she thought, 'Come on, the hero never dies this early in the show...' Then she grinned and amended, 'Which means he's definitely drowned.'  
  
Her thoughts were interrupted as the sea pulsed, the water rising and falling again in a way that was, well, unnatural. A moment later, Jack resurfaced, but was quickly dragged back under by the weight of the woman's waterlogged dress. Alyssia said several words that would have earned her a slap from her aunt and prepared to dive into the water after him, but the ring on her finger tightened sharply, sending a jolt of pain up her arm. She said several more words, held the thing up to her eyes, and glared at it, demanding, "What is this, a complimentary babysitting service free with my time-and-space travels? I know what I'm doing! I can swim just fine!"  
  
The ring sparkled innocently in the sunlight and gave no reply. At that point, however, Jack's head broke the surface of the water a second time, and he was supporting the limp form of the young woman, who was now clad only in a white shift. Alyssia started to run down the dock, but she was cut off by a squad of marines, led by the man she had seen from a distance on the battlements. Jack's two "friends" from the Interceptor rushed to help him with the young woman, who was now on her back on the dock, and reportedly not breathing. She watched interestedly as Jack pulled a knife and cut off the woman's corset, which solved the problem, and tossed it to one of the marines, who handled it gingerly, as though it might explode, holding it in front of himself like a shield.  
  
There was some discussion between Jack and a man in a blue uniform who had arrived with the marines, as well as Elizabeth's father. In the process, Jack was thanked, threatened, revealed to be a pirate ('Oh, big surprise! Just look at him!'), and ultimately sentenced to be hanged.  
  
She supposed she should be upset when they clapped him in irons and sentenced him to death, but he seemed quite unconcerned with the whole affair, and for some unfathomable reason she found herself trusting his judgment, or at the very least trusting that he had some kind of a plan for getting away alive. Her suspicions hardened into certainty when she caught him watching Elizabeth closely out of the corner of his eye, an expression that she knew, though she had met him less than an hour before, meant trouble.  
  
"Now, Sparrow," Alyssia said warningly, "Don't do anything stupid-" He lunged and looped the chains that bound his hands around Elizabeth's neck -"Like that," she finished, groaning.  
  
One running battle later, they were hiding behind a statue of a blacksmith. Alyssia took the opportunity to lecture him, as no one would hear her anyway. "That was royally stupid, Sparrow! What if they'd shot you?"  
  
He gave her a devil-may-care smile, and answered, "Concerned for my safety, love? I'm touched."  
  
"You're touched in the head!" she snapped, following as he slid out from behind the statue and entered the blacksmith's shop, carefully shutting the door behind him. 


	5. An Unfortunate Series of Events

Alyssia watched with great amusement as Jack tried and failed to awaken the blacksmith, who was lying in a drunken slumber in a corner of the dimly-lit, dusty smithy. She giggled, and said, "And here I thought YOU were really drunk." Jack ignored her, so she settled in to watch the show she knew was coming, leaning casually against the wall.  
  
Jack tried to sever the links of the chain on his hands with a hammer, but it didn't work too well. Alyssia grinned, and said, "Look up." He did, and saw the gears overhead. Setting the hammer down on the anvil, he drew a wickedly hooked piece of metal out of the forge fire, its tip glowing a menacing cherry red in the half-light. His eyes fell on the donkey harnessed to the machinery.  
  
"Congratulations, you're free," Alyssia said sarcastically as the chain creaked and snapped as the gears of the machinery overhead rolled over it. "Well, I don't know about you, but I'd just as soon get out of- Hide, now!"  
  
The wooden door creaked open, casting a square of white sunlight on the floor. A young man entered the smithy, carefully closing the door as quietly as possible. He turned to look at the machinery overhead, and at the donkey, which was still walking rather quickly in a circle. He walked right by Alyssia and knelt next to the creature, petting it and calming it down.  
  
Then he rose and turned to look at the sleeping blacksmith, who was still snoring peacefully in the corner. A sardonic smile flitted across his lips as he said, "Right where I left you."  
  
He strode over to the forge and paused, frowning at the hammer Jack had left out on the anvil. "Not where I left you," he said slowly.  
  
Alyssia walked boldly forward until she was standing right next to him. 'Man, he's even cuter up close,' she thought irrelevantly. 'So... if my pirate is really Jack Sparrow, not an actor playing a part, then this isn't Orlando Bloom, really. This is... Thomas... No... Turner! William Turner!' She watched as he reached for Jack's hat, which had also been left lying around.  
  
Jack chose this moment to emerge from hiding, smacking the back of William's hand with the flat of his sword. Alyssia jumped back smartly as he advanced, keeping the tip of the sword between himself and William. The boy's brown eyes widened, and he backed up a pace, saying, "You're the one they're hunting- the pirate."  
  
Alyssia took another step backward and waited for a classic Jack Sparrow answer. She was not disappointed. Jack narrowed his nearly-black eyes and replied, "You seem somewhat familiar. Have I threatened you before?"  
  
William took offense, and snapped, "I make a point of avoiding familiarity with pirates."  
  
"Your loss," Alyssia said dryly, "We've been having great fun almost getting killed." But of course he didn't notice her.  
  
Jack gave him a mock-courteous smile, and made as if to leave, saying, "Ah, well, then it would be a shame to put a black mark on your record. So, if you'll excuse me-" He turned to leave, but William made a sudden lunge and grabbed a sword from a rack near the wall. Alyssia swallowed hard. 'What'll I do if Jack gets killed? This William has the look of a swordsman about him, and Jack is, well, a half-drunk, half-mad pirate with an inferior blade.'  
  
Jack didn't look too concerned, however. His eyes glittered with malice as he turned back to face his opponent and demanded, "Do you think this wise, boy? Crossing blades with a pirate?"  
  
William's head came up, and his tone was dangerously quiet as he answered, "You threatened Miss Swann."  
  
'Typical Disney, the fair lady's knight in shining armor,' Alyssia thought in disgust. 'I expect I shall never live it down if Jack gets killed by this guy. Honestly.'  
  
Jack grinned and slid his blade mockingly against William's with a screech of metal as he replied, "Only a little."  
  
Alyssia watched, fascinated, as they exchanged a few blows and parries, (Jack talking like a teacher the entire time) testing one another, until Jack turned once more to leave, sheathing his sword. He got as far as the door before William threw his blade, which thudded deep into the wood next to Jack's head. Alyssia gaped, open-mouthed. "Cool..."  
  
Jack took hold of the hilt and tugged, first one-handed, then with both hands, wrenching as hard as he could, trying to pull it loose. William watched his efforts, smiling grimly.  
  
"Give up," Alyssia advised. "There's a back way out of here, look." She pointed.  
  
Jack turned to face William, his cocky grin back in place, and made his challenge. Challenge accepted.  
  
It was one of the best sword-fights Alyssia had ever been privileged to watch. Both men were quick and strong, their swords were silver blurs in the air. She watched, awed, as the fight unfolded, first on the ground, then on a cart which swayed dangerously, then on the rafters overhead. At last, both returned to the ground, Jack without his weapon, William half- blinded with sand.  
  
"Don't forget to use a few dirty tricks," Alyssia mocked as Jack trained his pistol on William, who was now reddish brown with sand and dust.  
  
He didn't reply. William's eyes traveled in surprise from the pistol aimed at his head to Jack's face, which was utterly devoid of expression. "You cheated!" he accused.  
  
Jack and Alyssia said, "Pirate!" at exactly the same moment. Alyssia heard the voices of British marines outside, and the sound of them trying to break the door down.  
  
"Move away," Jack ordered.  
  
"No."  
  
"Please move?" Jack said, real pleading in his voice. Alyssia glanced at him in surprise. Why get upset now, of all times, after the fight was over?  
  
The boy refused.  
  
Jack cocked the gun and said tightly, "This shot is not meant for you."  
  
Apparently, the hefty bottle in the hand of the newly-awakened blacksmith was meant for Jack, however. Specifically, meant to connect with a thud with the back of his head. He collapsed without a sound just as the marines rushed in and surrounded him. Alyssia said a few choice words, some directed at the marines but mostly at Jack, and trotted after them as they carried the unconscious pirate away.  
  
************************************************************************  
  
A/N: ok, not the greatest, but there was only so much I could do with a fight scene. The next chapter will be a lot better, because *drumroll, please* it is ALL Alyssia/Jack dialogue. Every last bit. so hang in there, better times ahead. cheers, mates! 


	6. Way Over Here

I know, I know, it's been AGES, hasn't it? Sorry, everybody. Here's a nice LONG update, just to make it up to you all. Please don't kill me....  
  
*  
  
"You can keep doing that forever, the dog is never going to come," Jack drawled, watching the efforts of the prisoners in the next cell.  
  
"Oh, excuse us if we haven't resigned ourselves to the gallows just yet!" one of them snapped.  
  
Jack only smiled, leaned back against the wall, and pulled his battered hat down over his eyes.  
  
"He has a point," Alyssia noted, watching Jack from her vantage point in the far corner of the cell. She was seated on the floor, her knees drawn up to her chest. Her sheathed sword lay beside her. The guards who had thrown Jack in an unceremonious heap on the floor of the cell some hours earlier had, naturally, taken no notice of her, much less the fact that she was armed, so she still had her sword. She had debated making a stand on Jack's behalf right then and there, but had ultimately decided against it. She doubted a month of fencing training would keep her alive in a fight against half a dozen marines. So here she was, locked in a cell with an insane pirate in the British version of death row. Terrific.  
  
"Me, or the fellow with the bone?" Jack inquired mildly, lifting the brim of his hat to fix her with a curious gaze.  
  
"The guy with the bone," she clarified. "How ARE you planning on getting out of here?"  
  
"Ah, well, actually, I'm not," he admitted.  
  
"You're WHAT?"  
  
"I don't have a plan for getting out," he said, with the air of one addressing a slow four year old.  
  
Alyssia counted to ten, then said in a forced-calm voice, "You're not going to escape? You're just going to let them hang you?"  
  
"I didn't say that," he admonished, with an infuriating gold-toothed grin.  
  
Alyssia counted to an even higher number, but decided upon reflection against interrogating him further, as he clearly wasn't going to tell her anything.  
  
The prisoner who had spoken earlier piped up again, pressing his face against the bars of the cell to stare, wide-eyed, at Jack. "Who the devil 'r you talking to, then?"  
  
Jack favored him with a predatory smile, and answered wickedly, "Just so, mate. I'm talking to the devil, you're right."  
  
The man gulped and retreated with his cell-mates as far away from Jack as they could get.  
  
Alyssia chuckled. "C'mon, I'm not THAT bad, am I?"  
  
"Far from it, love," he said easily, giving up his attempt at sleeping and sitting up. "Although you've got me a bit confused, really."  
  
Alyssia raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"  
  
"Yeh," he said. "I expected you to bolt first chance you got."  
  
"Why?" Alyssia asked, genuinely curious.  
  
"Ye're only a lass, after all, and I thought perhaps you'd find all this," he waved his hand extravagantly to encompass their surroundings, "To be a bit much for you, savvy?"  
  
"Where else would I go?" she retorted.  
  
"Where else indeed?" he replied, watching her carefully out of half- slitted eyes.  
  
"I'm not crazy, Jack, whatever you may think," she said, answering the unspoken question. "I don't know why I'm here, or how to get back home, or if I even want to try, but I know I'm not crazy."  
  
"Uh huh," he replied. "So, where, or should I say, when you come from, what is the world like?"  
  
"Different," she answered frankly. "A LOT different."  
  
"You're from the year, what, 2003?"  
  
"That's right," she said. "September of that year, actually."  
  
"And," he continued, "In the year 2003, do they still have pirates?"  
  
"Not like you," she said, half-smiling. "Some, in the China Sea, but none in the United States, where I come from."  
  
Jack frowned. "The what? Where's that?"  
  
Alyssia thought back, trying to find a point of comparison. Finally she asked, "Do you know Charles' Town Port?"  
  
"Of course," he said. "Part of the colonies."  
  
"OK," she said, "Well, that whole continent- those colonies -will eventually become independent from England, many years from now. They'll be called the United States of America."  
  
Jack looked somewhat skeptical, but nodded. "And you're what, some kind of minor nobility, judging by the way you talk?"  
  
Alyssia smiled. "We don't have nobility, or commoners, or anything like that in America. We're all equal, with equal rights, and we're governed by elected officials, chosen by the people. We don't have any slaves, either," she added, realizing this might interest him.  
  
He wrinkled his nose in disgust, and said, "So you're an entire country of honest, hard-working, peace-loving people?" He sounded utterly revolted.  
  
Alyssia smirked. "We try. But anyway," she added, "I think we have more immediate concerns on our hands than the morals of a country that doesn't exist yet. Listen!"  
  
The sounds of cannon-fire and explosions echoed from down in the harbor, accompanied by bright flashes of light. Jack leapt lightly to his feet and peered out the narrow window. "I know those guns... It's the Pearl."  
  
The prisoner who had spoken earlier gazed up at Jack through the bars, terror on his unshaven face. "The Black Pearl? I've heard stories. She's been preying on ships and settlements for near ten years. Never leaves any survivors..."  
  
Jack gave him a roguish grin. "No survivors? Then where do the stories come from, I wonder?"  
  
The prisoner frowned as he thought about this, and gave no answer.  
  
Alyssia got up, and joined Jack at the window, her sheathed sword in held in one white-knuckled hand. Together they watched the black shape of the Pearl as she bombarded Port Royal.  
  
*  
  
Alyssia threw herself backwards as the cannonball smashed through the wall of the next cell. The prisoners immediately scrambled out. One of them paused to say apologetically, "My sympathies, friend, you've no manner of luck at all."  
  
Jack and Alyssia stood side by side for a moment, gazing through the bars at the gaping hole in the wall. Alyssia reached through the bars, grabbed the bone the other prisoners had been using to tempt the dog, and handed it to Jack without a word.  
  
The dog was somewhat less than impressed with Jack, and ran away down the corridor, keys still clutched in its mouth.  
  
"You shouldn't have insulted him," Alyssia observed.  
  
Jack was about to reply scathingly when the guard, who up until that point had been at the top of the stairs, came tumbling down the stone steps to land in a heap, clearly dead. Two vicious-looking pirates with absolutely none of Jack's charm stumbled down the steps, and paused at the bottom. One of them growled to the other, "This ain't the armory!"  
  
"No, really?" Alyssia snapped.  
  
The other walked up to the bars of Jack's cell and gazed mockingly at him. He stared insolently back. Alyssia, on the other hand, backed away until she fetched up against the far wall, under the window. The man murmured, "Well, well, well, look what we have here, Twigg- Captain Jack Sparrow."  
  
The man called Twigg spat, and addressed Jack, "Last time I saw you, you were all alone on a godforsaken island, shrinking into the distance. His fortunes aren't improved much."  
  
"Worry about your own fortunes, gentlemen," Jack replied smoothly. "The deepest circle of Hell is reserved for betrayers and mutineers."  
  
The man who had first spoken lunged forward and seized Jack by the throat. Alyssia let out a gasp. His hand had turned to bones as it entered a shaft of moonlight. The skeletal fingers were locked around Jack's neck, but Jack didn't make any move to break free. Alyssia started forward, unsheathing her sword, but the ring on her finger made it PAINFULLY clear that she wasn't to interfere.  
  
Jack spoke. "So there is a curse. That's interesting."  
  
The man released Jack, and said dangerously, "You know nothing of Hell."  
  
He and his companion departed without another word.  
  
Jack remained where he was, gazing thoughtfully after them. That's... very interesting."  
  
Alyssia shivered, and asked after a moment, "Are you all right?"  
  
He gave her a lopsided grin as he turned around, and said, "Of course I am. I'm Captain Jack Sparrow, love." Then he winced and rubbed his neck, coughing a little.  
  
Alyssia nodded, and said agreeably, "Of course you are, and I'm the Queen of Sheba, myself."  
  
He gave a world weary sigh and tipped his head back to expose his throat, saying defiantly, "See? No blood. I'm fine-"  
  
"Apart from the bruise on your throat showing a hand and fingers," she interjected. She grinned wickedly and added, "Now ye know how those poor wenches of yours feel, hm?"  
  
"I like my lovers willing, thank you!" he snapped, with enough fire that she stepped back in surprise.  
  
"Sorry," she said, holding her hands up, palms out. "I meant no offense."  
  
"I know," he said tiredly, gingerly examining the bruise with his fingertips.  
  
The ring on Alyssia's finger gave a flash of light, giving her skin an odd greenish glow- which didn't fade. Feeling as thought she had just looked at a camera flash, she blinked hard several times, and stared at her glowing hand in wonderment.  
  
Jack was also staring at it, with a decidedly uneasy expression on his face. "What, ah, is it doing, exactly?"  
  
"Beats me," she said, holding the ring up in front of her eyes and examining it. On impulse she addressed it directly, saying, "And what might this be about? What do you want me to do?"  
  
The ring gave off another blinding flash, and yet another and another, until it was flickering like an old movie projector. In fact...  
  
A picture grew in the air above the stone set in the ring, or rather, a series of images. First, the cover of one of Alyssia's favorite books, "Lady Knight", by Tamora Pierce. An image of the book's main character, Keladry of Mindelan, sporting her usual black eye appeared next. Then a single printed word, "Nealan".  
  
Alyssia stared blankly as the stone went dark and the last image faded. Her hand continued to glow green. Then she smiled at the ring, and said, "Creative way to explain it, I'll give you that. Good idea."  
  
Jack shook his head as though to clear it, and said weakly, "Dare I ask what that was about?"  
  
"Apparently, this ring is here to tell me when I can interfere and when I can't," she explained, "And right now is one of those times where I can. It's also, ah, helping me along a bit. Lucky for you. Hold still, I've never done this before."  
  
Looking a bit nervous, Jack complied, flinching as she pressed her hand against the bruise, waiting until the last of the green glow faded from her hand. When she took her hand away, the bruise was gone.  
  
Jack swallowed experimentally, and rubbed his throat, grinning. "Cold fingers," he teased.  
  
She rolled her eyes. "Good lord, Sparrow, I just did MAGIC, like in tales, and here you stand complaining about my hands being cold?"  
  
"You didn't do magic, love," he pointed out. "That... ring... did."  
  
"It's like Need, the sword from "By the Sword"," she said, frowning. "Or like one of Tolkien's magic rings, only different. And why it should be mixed up in a pirate story I've no idea. Dead useful, though." She yawned widely. "Well, Sparrow, it's getting late, and I expect we should both try and get some sleep."  
  
He nodded, his dark eyes watching her closely.  
  
She stared uncomfortably right back.  
  
At last he smirked at her and lay down, right in the middle of the dirt floor, taking up as much space as was humanly possible.  
  
"Right," she said grimly, settling back into her corner with her back against the wall. "I'll be over here- WAY over here."  
  
She resolutely closed her eyes, ignoring his quiet laughter.  
  
************************************************************************  
  
A/N: No, I haven't gone crazy- I know what I'm doing here. You guys are just gonna have to trust me on this one.... savvy? 


End file.
